PLEeeeeASe don't destroy a perfictly good XP with anything else.
I want to try W7 as much as anyone but...
XP is the most stable O/S they have made and you'll be sorry if You destroy it.

(It still has security support 'tl 2013 or so).

Try it on Vista or something NOT on XP,PLEASE.

You'll have to do a full,Clean and install with XP
You can upgrade vista.

Oh please, pretty please, don't forget scouring the InterNet for new drivers for all your hardware.

Some of the better features available in newer Windows versions are coming from UNIX and Linux, such as secure administrative tasks and antiviral security. These features have been available and time tested in Linux for years, whereas MS is still working out the kinks in their implementation of these features.

If you are not chained to a couple of specific Winapps (that might have a suitable replacement under Linux), you might consider giving a go at a Linux LiveCD. It's free and you can try it without installing to your hard drive. It will boot and run slower than installed (because it has to be decompressed on the fly) but it will automatically check hdwr compatibility and give you a fully functioning desktop with Office Suite, photomanagement, FireFox web browser, games, pdf viewers, image manipulation software and lots more in about 7 minutes from loading it into your CD tray.

If you like what you see, and your hdwr is compatible, you can have it installed to your HD complete with all the applications and drivers in about 15-20 minutes. After installation, Linux boots fast and will never slow down like other systems do after being loaded with applications, user data and antiviral software. Also, there are no known effective viruses attacking Linux so no messing around with antivirals. A couple of good Linux versions to try would be PCLinuxOS, Mandriva and Ubuntu in that order. You can try these with or without Win7 installed.

Whatever you decide, good luck.

Ubuntu is probably the most popular amongst the more casual user who wants a well polished product. I don't know enough about the others lil mentioned, so I'll keep my mouth shut. Others to consider are Fedora (currently Fedora11), and Suse.

Each of these distributions probably has different versions (I know Fedora and Ubuntu do) like desktop, workstation, and server, depending on what you want to do with them. There are programs out there which will let you rum a Windows program on a Linux machine but they don't always work perfectly so be sure to research the program on the Internet first. There is a perfectly acceptable substitute for MS Office which is often bundled with a Linux distro. It is OpenOffice. It is not quite as polished but it can often read MS Office documents and write in a form which Office can read.

It is not difficult to install Linux on a Windows hard drive. You just have to do your homework and make sure you understand what you're doing before you do it. Even simpler if you can install a second (internal) hard drive and give Linux its own drive.

Just as there are various flavors of Windows, (basic, home, ultimate, professional, server), each distribution of Linux has various versions ( home, enterprise, server, LiveCD). Now why are there so many distributions?

Well, since Linux and associated apps are opensource (mostly), that means the code is available for anyone and everyone to acquire, modify and release. This means by deduction that there are going to be tons of "versions" of the original which I believe was an amalgam of the Linux kernel (written by Linus Torvalds) and GNU applications (written by many developers and put forth by Richard Stallman).

I believe Soft Landing Systems packaged one of if not the first Linux distribution. This morphed into the three grandaddy Linux systems. Red Hat, Slackware and Debian. From these three have evolved hundreds of distributions, all with varying degrees of usability and features. Whereas in the Windows world, some implementations never see the light of day beyond the walls of MicroSoft, Linux distributions multiply like rabbits and it is up to the consumer to ferret out the best of the bunch.

Now, there is nothing in the licensing of Linux that prohibits a for-profit company from taking Linux, modifying and improving it and selling it. Just as there is nothing that prevents a guy like Bill Reynolds aka Texstar from working out of his basement and giving away or selling his version.

To answer the question. Each distribution has versions that do the same thing. Mandriva, PCLOS and Ubuntu have different versions that are more suited to desktop, server, home use, enterprise, multimedia. etc. OpenOffice has the ability to play nice with most MS Office features and formats.

Installation of Linux on the same HD as Windows is indeed easy. I have loaded Mandriva on over 75 PCs with and without Windows, on the same HD and on different HDrives and have never ever damaged a Windows installation..... not once. Windows will however, I repeat, will destroy a Linux installation. Heed Jimmymacs advice. Always install Windows first! ( I have installed Linux first then Windows, but it was not pretty)

Anyways, for the newb, I recommend a LiveCD first and then move to installing Linux on a spare computer that you can afford to trash as you learn.

There are two types of LiveCD: Live only and Live with option to install. most distros are of the latter type and come on one CD/DVD with the option to install additional applications from an online repository.


There are also full install versions that must be installed to your HD for them to work. These can come on one CD/DVD, but most come in sets with many additional apps.

Both of the above versions will usually install a complete working software system that includes the operating system, Office Software, web browsers and tons of other stuff...all available on the one CD/DVD.

Within these versions, there are additional versions that present the user with the option to choose different desktop environments. You can't run them at the same time, but you have the option to choose various DE that suit you. The three most well known are KDE, GNOME and Xfce. So you see, by the time you add up all the permutations, there's a lot of choice.

Thankfully, the community at large has by virtue of the marketplace narrowed these hundreds of versions down to about 30 or 40 well known ones and from that, I would recommend about maybe 8-10. In no particular order:

Xandros - excellent distro for newbs but costs. free version is hidden away and forum chatter indicates that Xandros has "collapsed"
CentOS - generally more suited to server apps but a very solid and conservative distro for the desktop
Suse - I hear it's good but have no experience
PCLOS - great for newbs, based on Mandriva but a little less cutting edge
Mandriva - Red Hat derivative. Great for newbs. Cutting edge apps and kernel. Experienced user base and forums
Ubuntu / Kubuntu, etc. - most well known and have quite a few versions but I think lack the maturity of PCLOS, Mandriva, CentOS
VectorLinux - smokin' hot distro. Runs fast and is solid but uses Xfce(can be changed) as default desktop which may throw new users.
PuppyLinux - great reviews but haven't used it in a while
Kanotix - good solid distro but has had some personnel dificulties
Fedora- the Red Hat community project. I have had mixed results with this distro but lots of people like it
LinuxMint- great reviews, no experience

Maybe a few others

Remember, each of these disros is based on either Slackware, Debian or Red Hat and most have a LiveCD version and an install only version. And within that, there are versions using different desktop environments and application packages that will slant it towards home use, enterprise use, server use or a combination.

Whew! enough for one sitting. Hope this helps. Any corrections welcome.